Injury rules Taulupe Faletau out of Rugby World Cup

Wales and Lions star Taulupe Faletau has been ruled out of the Autumn's Rugby World Cup after an 'innocuous' training ground incident, say the WRU.

The Union say Faletau, who's been capped 72 times for his country, will need surgery after injuring his clavicle (collarbone). No timeframe has been given for his return.

It's a bitter blow for Wales and for Faletau himself, who's suffered a string of injury layoffs over the last few seasons. In December 2017 he picked up a knee problem which saw him miss part of that season's Six Nations.

In October 2018, Faletau was ruled out for 13 weeks after breaking his arm while on duty for his club Bath, before suffering an identical injury in his comeback game the next January. The two injuries saw Wales' talismanic number 8 miss that season's entire Autumn Series and Six Nations.

Wales have won their last twelve matches without Faletau, a run which saw them topple South Africa (twice), Argentina (twice) and Australia, as well as completing a Six Nations clean sweep earlier this year.

But being without such a proven operator will still be a big blow for Warren Gatland and hist team ahead of the forthcoming World Cup in Japan.

In the next month, Wales face home and away warm up matches against England and Ireland. They take on Georgia in Toyota City in their opening World Cup pool match on September 23rd.